The subject matter herein relates generally to grounding structures in connector assemblies.
Electrical systems, such as those used in networking and telecommunication systems, utilize receptacle and header connectors to interconnect components of the system, such as a motherboard and daughtercard. However, as speed and performance demands increase, known electrical connectors are proving to be insufficient. Signal loss and/or signal degradation is a problem in known electrical systems. Additionally, there is a desire to increase the density of electrical connectors to increase throughput of the electrical system, without an appreciable increase in size of the electrical connectors, and in some cases, a decrease in size of the electrical connectors. Such increase in density and/or reduction in size causes further strains on performance.
In order to address performance, some known systems utilize shielding to reduce interference between the contacts of the electrical connectors. However, the shielding utilized in known systems is not without disadvantages. For instance, electrically connecting the grounded components of the two electrical connectors at the mating interface of the electrical connectors is difficult and defines an area where signal degradation occurs due to improper shielding at the interface. For example, some known systems include ground contacts on both electrical connectors that are connected together to electrically connect the ground circuits of the electrical connectors. Typically, the connection between the ground contacts is located at a single point of contact, such as at a point above a differential pair of signal contacts. Some known connectors provide side shielding along the sides of the differential pairs in the form of a folded-over ground tab on each side of the differential pair, which is implemented on the header connector as part of the ground contact of the header connector. However, known connector systems do not include a direct connection of the folded-over ground tabs to a side ground shield of the receptacle connector, which causes the folded-over ground tabs to act as resonating structures that cause cross-talk in higher frequency applications.
A need remains for an electrical system having improved shielding to meet particular performance demands.